In Brief
Food Corporation of India denied appointment to a candidate ranked sixth on merit for the Assistant Grade-II (Hindi) post solely because she did not produce an experience certificate showing one year of translation work experience either with her application or during document verification. The High Court Division Bench allowed her appeal. The Supreme Court affirmed the Division Bench, holding that the distinction between the essential fact (possession of experience) and the mode of proof (certificate) must be maintained. Since the advertisement did not explicitly require submission of certificates with the application, and the candidate demonstrably possessed the required experience through authentic subsequent certificates that were never disputed, denying her appointment was unjust. Procedure cannot override substance.
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